Wild Over You 1953

Set against the busy backdrop of the 1900 Paris Exposition, a scene of bustling tourists and grand curiosities gives way to a sudden scare at the zoo. A wildcat escape triggers alarms and a quick evacuation as the park hour fills with tension. In the confusion, the escapee stalks through the grounds, evading an animal controller and his dog. Nearby, the wildcat spots an opportunity: she paints herself in bold black and white to resemble a skunk, turning the pursuers away and drawing fresh attention to herself. The disguise sets the stage for a melodramatic, comic chase that centers on the charismatic, yet impulsive, character of Pepé Le Pew — Pepé Le Pew is introduced to this unlikely quarry and drawn into a flirtatious, increasingly dangerous game. He tries to charm the wildcat, but she retaliates with a physical mauling that leaves him dazed and bemused; he shrugs it off with a pout, declaring, > I like it.

The wildcat slips away and hides inside a fortune teller’s hut, while Pepé, ever the showman, poses as a swami and pretends to foretell a future where she will meet a “fine gentleman.” When she bolts back outside, the disguise has him waiting as that very gentleman, yet once again he is met with a painful mauling, and he misreads the meaning of their exchange, thinking she is merely flirting. The action then shifts into a playful detour through a wax museum, where the wildcat poses as a boa around the neck of a Marie Antoinette statue and Pepé counterpoints by posing as a coonskin cap on a Daniel Boone sculpture. The wildcat slips away into a suit of armor, with Pepé still inside, prompting a witty exchange about proximity and space: > Close quarters, no?

Another mauling follows, and the pair tumble through the exhibit as the armor pieces rearrange themselves, leaving Pepé dazed and muttering, “I hope I hold out…” The wildcat again finds shelter inside a Madame Pompadour carriage replica, and Pepé ends up inside there as well, creating a comical tangle of costumes and misadventures. After a fourth, exhausting mauling, Pepé concedes that the rough treatment might be worth it, a sentiment that keeps the chase rolling.

The pursuit extends beyond indoor displays to the open grounds, with the wildcat growing tired as the chase continues. She makes her way to a hot air balloon, climbs inside, and severs the balloon’s support ropes, sending it upward with the two of them clinging to the spectacle below. Pepé reappears in the climactic moment, only to receive one final mauling as the balloon rises, and he signs off with a farewell flourish as the craft lifts higher into the sky, leaving the audience with the lingering note of his signature line: > If you have not tried it, do not knock it…